This board seems a little quiet :) I did Cambridge and Slim and Save a couple of years ago and went down to a small size 12 and 11 stone! I was really proud, but hadn't really changed or learnt anything and the weight piled back on! I'm now a size 20... I started Cambridge at a size 14! Ooops! :wave_cry:

Anyway... My big reality check came when I quit my job, moved 100 miles away to live with my boyfriend and became a student nurse! At 24, I'm not the oldest person on the course but I don't feel I quite "fit". I piled on the weight through loneliness I think and complete lack of exercise... I did nothing! I got my student nurse uniform a couple of weeks ago.. when I tried all the sizes initially I was mortified I was a size 18 and vowed to diet so that they were looser. I didn't... and the uniform came and didn't fit! I'm now wearing a size 20!

On the day I got my uniform I'd had enough... I joined my local swimming pool and RC class!!

I started on Monday 17th March and was shocked to see that I weighed 14 stone 10lbs! I could not believe it. The class wasn't as good as I expected. The aerobics was really simple, but the class was made up of a lot of older adults so I guess that it has to cater to all! The food plan is quite complicated for someone who is used to meal replacement diets but I'm getting there slowly! I've upped my exercise to 30 minutes a day and I'm currently in taking approximately 1400 calories a day. In the last 5 days I've lost 6lbs... I know that's because it's the first week so I'm not getting too excited! Ha! So I'm currently 14 stone 4lbs! I've completely cut out crisps, and chocolate and alcohol. I have been binge eating since I moved away and I think it was a loneliness thing. But I've replaced that eating with swimming. I have been doing a lot of swimming this week! Boy does my body ache!

My biggest fears are that I'm on placement for 10 weeks on Monday and my shifts are 7am-8pm. On the one hand, working in a busy ward environment should in theory help me shred the lbs! But I'm scared I will become starving and eat! I do hope I go the right way! I also won't be able to do any structured exercise on my long days such as swimming or a class.

My second biggest fear is that the weight loss required is huge. At 5ft 10 I should be about 11 stone.. that feels so far away! On Cambridge I was losing a stone a month. This will take much longer on a sensible plan. I'm scared I'll lost motivation by my slow losses and maybe slip into my old ways!

How are you getting on with the RC diet? I started on 18th January and have lost 1 stone 5lb since. I lost 5lb the first week and since then it's ranged from ˝lb to 3lb a week. It's going well and I'm happy with what I've lost (although you always want to lose it quicker!)

I know what you mean about Cambridge. I did that before I got married in 2009 and lost 3 stone in as many months but I struggled when I went back to 'normal' eating and gradually put it all back on. I went back to Cambridge in 2011 and lost 3 and a half stone and was happier that summer than I had been for a long time. Needless to say I gradually put it back on again and I went back to Cambridge in November but, for some reason, my stomach did not like it and I was getting pains and cramps.

I decided to join RC in January as there's exercise included and I don't find the low fat diet too difficult to stick to. My RC instructor runs Fitsteps classes amongst other things so I go there once or twice a week and love it as it's more 'dancey' than aerobics. I've also started swimming once a week. I know the exercise is helping. I'm 5'8" and want to get to 12 stone - I know it's still over my 'normal' BMI but that's my goal for the moment. I have just over 2˝ stone to go.

I'm chipping away at the weight and, like you say, this plan is more sensible. Keep up the good work and set smaller targets so that it seems easier to deal with. My next one is to lost another stone by the time we got on holiday mid June.